YOUdon'tknowabout me without you have read a book by the name of The AdventuresofTomSawyer;butthatain'tnomatter.Thatbookwas made by Mr. MarkTwain,andhetold the truth, mainly. There was things which he stretched, butmainlyhetoldthetruth.Thatisnothing.Ineverseenanybody but lied one timeoranother,withoutitwasAuntPolly,orthewidow,ormaybeMary.Aunt Polly-Tom'sAuntPolly, she is -and Mary, and the Widow Douglas is all told aboutinthatbook,whichismostlyatrue book, with some stretchers,asIsaid before.

Nowthewaythatthebookwindsupisthis:Tomandmefoundthemoneythat therobbershidinthecave,anditmade us rich. We got six thousand dollars apiece-allgold.Itwasanawfulsightofmoneywhenitwaspiledup.Well, JudgeThatcherhetookitandputitoutatinterest,anditfetchedusadollara dayapiecealltheyear round -more than a body could tell what to do with. The WidowDouglasshetookmeforherson,andallowedshewouldcivilizeme;but itwas roughlivingin thehouseall the time, considering howdismal regular and decentthewidowwasinallherways;andsowhenIcouldn'tstanditnolongerI litout.Igotintomy old rags and my sugar-hogshead again, and was free and satisfied.ButTomSawyerhehuntedmeupandsaidhewasgoingtostarta band of robbers, and I might join if Iwould go back to the widow and be respectable. So I went back.

Thewidowshecriedover me,andcalledmeapoorlostlamb,andshecalled me alotofothernames,too,butshenever meant no harm by it. She put me in them newclothesagain,andIcouldn'tdonothingbutsweatand sweat, and feel all crampedup.Well,then,theoldthingcommencedagain.Thewidowrungabell forsupper,andyouhadtocometotime.Whenyou got to the table you couldn't gorighttoeating,butyouhadtowaitforthewidowtotuckdownherheadand grumblealittleoverthevictuals,thoughtherewasn'treallyanythingthematter withthem,-thatis,nothing only everything was cooked by itself. In a barrel of oddsandendsitisdifferent;things get mixed up, and the juice kind of swaps around, and the things go better.

Aftersuppershegot out her book and learned me about Moses and the Bulrushes,andIwasina sweat to find out all about him; but by and by she let it outthatMoseshadbeendeadaconsiderablelongtime;sothen I didn't care no more about him, because I don't take no stock in dead people.

PrettysoonIwanted to smoke, and asked the widow to let me. But she wouldn't. She said it was a mean practice and wasn't clean, and I must try to not do it any more.Thatisjustthewaywithsomepeople.Theygetdownonathingwhen theydon'tknow nothing about it. Here she was a-bothering about Moses, which wasnokinto her, and no use to anybody, being gone, you see, yet finding a poweroffaultwithmefordoingathingthathadsomegoodin it.Andshetook snuff, too; of course that was all right, because she done it herself.

Hersister,MissWatson,atolerableslimoldmaid,withgoggleson,hadjust come tolivewithher, and took a set at me now with a spelling-book. She worked me middlinghardforaboutanhour,andthenthewidow madeherease up. I couldn't stood it much longer. Then for an hour it was deadly dull, and I was fidgety.MissWatsonwouldsay,"Don'tput your feet up there,Huckleberry;" and "Don'tscrunchuplikethat,Huckleberry-setupstraight;" and pretty soon she wouldsay,"Don'tgapandstretchlikethat,Huckleberry-whydon't you try to behave?"Thenshetold me all about the bad place, and I said Iwished I was there.Shegotmadthen,butI didn'tmeannoharm.AllIwanted was to go somewhere;allIwantedwasachange,Iwasn'tparticular.Shesaiditwas wickedtosaywhatIsaid;saidshewouldn't say it for the whole world; she was goingtolivesoastogotothegoodplace.Well,Icouldn'tseenoadvantagein going where she was going, soI made up my mind I wouldn't tryfor it. But I never said so, because it would onlymake trouble, and wouldn't do nogood.

Nowshehadgota start,andshewentonandtold meallaboutthegoodplace. Shesaid all a body would have to do there was to go around allday long with a harpandsing,foreverandever.SoIdidn'tthinkmuchofit.ButI never said so. I askedherifshereckonedTomSawyerwould go there, and she said notby a considerablesight.Iwasgladaboutthat,becauseIwantedhim andmetobe together.

MissWatsonshekeptpeckingatme,anditgottiresomeandlonesome.By and by they fetchedtheniggersinandhadprayers,andtheneverybody was off to bed.Iwent up to my room witha piece of candle, and put it on the table. Then I setdownina chairby thewindowandtriedto thinkofsomethingcheerful,butit wasn't no use. Ifelt so lonesome I most wished I was dead. Thestars were shining,andtheleavesrustledinthewoodseversomournful;andIheardan owl,awayoff,who-whooingaboutsomebodythatwasdead,andawhippowill andadogcryingaboutsomebody thatwas going to die; and thewind was trying towhispersomethingtome,andIcouldn'tmakeoutwhatitwas,andsoit made thecold shivers run over me. Then away out in the woods Iheard that kind of a soundthataghostmakeswhenitwantsto tell about something that's on its mind andcan'tmakeitselfunderstood,andsocan'tresteasyinitsgrave,andhasto goabout thatwayeverynightgrieving.Igotsodown-heartedandscared I did wishIhadsomecompany.Pretty soon a spider went crawling up my shoulder, andIflipped it off and it lit in the candle; and before I could budge it was all shriveledup.Ididn'tneedanybody totellme thatwas an awful bad sign and wouldfetchmesomebadluck,soIwasscaredandmostshook the clothes off of me.Igotupandturnedaroundin my tracks three times and crossed my breast everytime;andthenItiedupalittlelockofmyhairwitha threadtokeepwitches away.ButIhadn'tnoconfidence.Youdothatwhenyou'velostahorseshoethat you'vefound,insteadofnailingitupoverthedoor,butIhadn'teverheard anybody say it was any way to keep off bad luck when you'd killed a spider.

Isetdownagain,a-shakingallover,andgotoutmypipefora smoke;forthe housewasallasstillasdeathnow,andsothewidowwouldn'tknow.Well,after alongtimeIheardtheclockawayoffin thetowngoboom-boom-boom -twelvelicks;andallstillagain-stillerthanever.Pretty soonIheardatwigsnap downinthedarkamongstthetrees-somethingwasastirring.Isetstill and listened.DirectlyIcouldjustbarelyheara"me-yow! me-yow!"down there. That wasgood!SaysI,"me-yow!me-yow!" as soft as Icould, and then I put out the lightandscrambledoutofthewindowontotheshed.ThenIslipped down to the groundandcrawledinamongthetrees,and,sureenough,therewasTom Sawyer waiting for me.